Doctor's orders
by dayana82
Summary: Written for http://community. Garcia has the flu – but with Derek taking care of her things aren’t all that bad. MorganGarcia please read and review.


**Title: **Doctor's orders

**Fandom/****Pairing:** Criminal Minds/Morgan and Garcia

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Written for http://community. The prompt was hurt/comfort – nursing back to health.

Garcia has the flu – but with Derek taking care of her things aren't all that bad.

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to CBS. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time.

"This better be the right key." Derek mumbled, his foot impatiently tapping while he watched JJ struggling to open the door.

"Relax, Derek." JJ rolled her eyes. "I'm sure she's fine!"

"She can't be fine." Derek objected. "She won't even answer the phone. Something is wrong."

"She's ill." JJ reminded him while she unlocked the door. "She probably just wants to be left alone until she's feeling better."

Derek rushed inside immediately heading for the bedroom.

When JJ's eyes fell upon the motionless blonde on the bed her amused look gave way to a concerned expression. She quickly hurried towards the bed and laid a hand on Penelope's forehead. "My god, she's burning up." she whispered.

"I'm fine." Penelope mumbled without opening her eyes.

"Like hell you are." Derek grabbed the clinical thermometer from the bedside table and put it into her ear. "Almost 104." he informed JJ.

"I'll call an ambulance." JJ quickly grabbed the phone and started dialing. "We need to get her temperature down."

"No ambulance." Penelope tried to protest.

Without answering Derek lifted Penelope off the bed and took her to the bathroom.

JJ talked to the nurse on the phone and told her what had happened. She paced the living room for five minutes until the doorbell finally rang. "Her temperature was almost 104." she informed the paramedics and led them towards the bathroom. When she opened the door the sight left her stunned for a moment.

Derek was sitting fully dressed in the shower and held a motionless Penelope in his arms, the cold water pattering down on them. "I tried to get her temperature down." Derek said.

"That was smart." one of the paramedics replied with a smile, turned off the water and checked her temperature again. "It worked. So I guess we can take her back to the bedroom."

Nodding Derek lifted her up again and gently placed her back on the bed.

Penelope opened her eyes and glanced equally puzzled and tired at the crowd in her bedroom. "I said no ambulance." she stated huskily.

"You're pretty ill." Derek replied smiling at her.

"And you're pretty wet." she smirked before she closed her eyes again.

"Her temperature is no longer alarming." the paramedic said. "She has a bad case of the flu but there's no need to take her to the hospital. Here!" he handed Derek a prescription. "She needs to take an antibiotic three times a day and an antipyretic. Someone should take care of her."

"I'm fine." Penelope objected wearily.

"I'll take care of her." Derek volunteered.

"Make sure she gets a lot of rest and eats regularly. You should keep her warm." the paramedic recommended before he and his colleague left. "And she needs to drink plenty of liquids."

"Derek, you don't need to…"

"But I will." he interrupted her. "And I don't think you're strong enough to argue with me so leave it alone!"

Derek then turned to the other blonde and frowned a little: "I think we should get her out of these clothes."

"No way." Penelope mumbled and rose from the bed heading for the bathroom.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Derek scolded her.

"I won't let you remove my clothes!" she coughed and disappeared in the bathroom.

Derek sighed: "We can at least change her bedding."

JJ nodded and helped him find new bedding and remove the wet sheets. They'd just finished when Penelope appeared in the doorway. Her face was pale and she looked exhausted.

"You shouldn't have got up." Derek gave her a concerned look.

"I'm fine." she mumbled, took a step forward and started to sway. "Derek, could you catch me?" she asked just before she keeled over.

Derek rushed forward to break her fall, lifted her up and gently laid her down on the bed.

When Penelope awoke she smelled something unfamiliar from the kitchen. Only a few seconds later Derek entered the room balancing a tray and walking towards the bed. "Hey, baby girl, time for you to take your medicine."

She grimaced but decided to be a good girl and swallowed the pills. Glancing at the soup bowl Penelope said: "You know, I'm not really hungry."

"Don't argue with me, sweetness." Derek smiled at her and handed her a spoon. "It's my mom's chicken soup, secret recipe. It can work miracles, plus I promised the paramedics you'll eat."

"Okay." she sighed and took the spoon from him. Her head felt as if it was about to explode. She felt dizzy and her stomach definitely didn't want to have anything in it. But when she'd swallowed the first spoonful of the soup that changed. Closing her eyes happily Penelope took another spoonful: "That's delicious."

"See, it works." Derek smirked and watched Penelope finishing the soup.

Penelope heard a weird sound behind Derek and tried to look past him.

Derek sighed, turned around and gave the dog in the doorway a deprecating stare. Clooney stood there, carefully wagging his tail, and gave his owner the best puppy dog look he could manage. Derek looked apologetically back at Penelope: "Sorry, I told him to stay in the corridor. I didn't know where to leave him."

"It's okay." she assured Derek with a weak smile. "What time is it?" Penelope wanted to know as she watched Derek taking the tray back into her kitchen.

"A quarter to four." he answered from the kitchen. "You should try and get some more rest."

"I'm not really tired." she sighed. "Just… groggy somehow." The medicine didn't really seem to work. They just made her dizzier and even more groggy.

"Then you should just stay in bed." Derek advised. Smiling he returned from the kitchen. But as soon as he reached the doorway he frowned: "Clooney, what do you think you're doing?"

Clooney whimpered from where he'd settled on the bed next to Penelope.

"Get off, now!" Derek commanded.

"No." Penelope begged. "Please, can you… leave him here? He's… warming me up. Unfortunately I couldn't convince him to crawl under the blanket." she chuckled which quickly turned into a bout of coughing.

Derek frowned in concern when he noticed her shiver. "Shall I get you another blanket?"

"That would be perfect." Penelope sighed. "The problem is I don't have any more blankets."

Thinking about it for a moment Derek decided that there was only one way to keep her warm. So he walked over to her bed, slid under the blankets and wrapped Penelope in his arms.

"You shouldn't…"

"I'm supposed to keep you warm." Derek softly cut her off. "Doctor's orders!"

"You'll get infected." she warned. "Or you'll sweat to death."

"I don't care." Derek assured her and placed a gentle kiss on her temple.

Penelope sighed and a smile spread across her face. As much as she hoped to feel better she could definitely get used to Derek being her nurse.

Derek spent the next days making sure that Penelope took her medicine and stayed in bed. He only allowed her to get up to take a shower. He cooked for her and Clooney and he did their best to keep her warm at night. Or to cut it short Penelope Garcia was in heaven for a little less than two weeks.

Derek enjoyed taking care of his goddess much more than he'd ever admitted. As bad as it sounded to himself he was a little sad when Penelope started getting better. Not that he wanted her to be ill. But he knew he'd miss the feeling of her snuggled up against him at night. He'd never been fond of cuddling, but cuddling with Penelope was different.

"I think I'm allowed to get up today." she grinned at Derek when he entered her bedroom with the last antibiotic she had to take.

"You shouldn't get carried away." Derek warned. "You're still a little weak."

"I'm completely fine." Penelope assured. "You can go home."

Slowly he walked over, sat down on the bed and gently pushed a strand behind her ear. "Are you sure, angel? You know the fever could return."

His soft touch made her heart leap with joy and her stomach prickled pleasurably. "You know… you took such good care of me and I'm feeling very much better. I… I don't think the flu will return so… you are free now."

"Would you mind if I stayed just a few more days to make sure you're really back on the road to recovery?" Derek asked. His hand remained on her neck gently kneading it.

Penelope's heart now skipped at least two or three beats. "I… um… I don't think so." she answered. Of course, she didn't mind. She wanted him to stay forever. She wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life wrapped in his arms!

"Good." he smiled. "Because I could never forgive myself if you became ill again and I wasn't here to take care of you." Or to be honest, he simply didn't want to go. He didn't want to leave her. He wanted to hold her at night for the rest of his life.

Penelope swallowed hard and the butterflies in her stomach multiplied in response to the charming smile on his face. _Why did he want to stay? Why was he doing all this?_ "You know, you don't have to…"

Derek silenced her by putting his finger over her lips. When he saw her questioning look, he cupped her face with both his hands and made her look into his eyes. "You don't need to wonder why I do all this. I love you." he softly said. "That's why I don't want to go." He leaned closer, slowly to make sure she had every chance to object, and carefully captured her lips with his.

The kiss was soft and tender but deep enough to make Penelope aware of his feelings. When they broke apart, her heart was pounding like mad. "I love you too." she whispered. "And I would love you to stay."

"How long?" Derek smirked impishly and stroked her cheek with his finger.

Penelope shrugged: "How about forever?"

"Sounds perfect." he nodded and kissed her again, much more passionately this time. He lifted the blanket and crawled back into her bed. He was pretty sure Penelope would let him remove her clothes now.


End file.
